The present invention relates generally to the field of radio communications. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of loading software remotely in a wireless portable communication device.
For a wireless portable communication device, such as a wireless radiotelephone, an ability to download software remotely, such as Over-the-Air (OTA) method, is increasingly becoming more desirable. Presently, a wireless portable communication device such as a cellular telephone is loaded with appropriate and complete set of software at a factory well before reaching an end user. This set of software, which is specifically designed for a particular set of cellular telephones such as a particular cellular telephone series or cellular telephones having the same processor, is called native software.
One advantage of loading a complete set of native software into a cellular phone before sale is that upon purchase, the user able to start using the cellular telephone almost immediately. However, once the cellular telephone is sold, it mostly remains in the same software configuration, and software modification or update is very limited. Some OTA software upgrades currently available involve simply unlocking features that are already loaded and making them available for the user, and do not involve replacing the existing native software. If the user desires to be able to use a new and upgraded version of the native software or compatible but different native software which may have features previously unavailable, the user would have to either purchase a new cellular telephone that is loaded with such native software, or miss the benefit of such new native software.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method allowing the end user to download native software into a wireless portable communication device which already has a version of native software, and if desired and available, to completely replace the existing version of native software residing in the wireless portable communication device.